a l t . m u s i c . d i o

"This album is the one that all the fans have wanted for a long time."

We've been awaiting yet another Dio compilation? The three new songs are cool, but the mastering is for the birds. Overly loud and compressed. Dio fans need to start wearing earplugs to his shows and save their hearing.

The regualr US Mob Rules on the WB(3605-2) label is fantastic. No need to search for anything better than this. Obsessive's might want to try the West German Vertigo (830 777-2). Slightly different mastering, and a little better, in my opinion.

For Heaven & Hell, the WG Vertigo (830 171-2) is the way to go. Subpar tapes were used for the US WB pressing, so hardcore fans will find it worthwhile to track down these out of print versions. They won't be as loud as modern cd's. You have to turn the volume up yourself, which is as it should be. These are very crankable discs. TURN UP THE NIGHT!

I've been burned too many times buying "remasters", and assuming they would sound better. They're just louder, and quite often, worse due to the compression and clipping. Do we even know of any b-sides from the H&H/Mob Rules era? I just downloaded the Dehumanizer Demos torrent the other day, but I haven't played it yet.

I'd love to hear some b-sides as well. Were there any 7" single releases from the first two Dio Sabbath albums? What was on the flip side? Just another album track? More archival live material would interest me. I'd really be interested in some pro-recorded full shows from the Dehumanizer tour.

Do you know what songs were even given single releases, Art? And what b-sides they had?

Thanks, Art. I might try and see if I can find the Neon Knights, Die Young and Mob Rules vinyl singles. Weird that Lady Evil was both an A and B side. And also released in mono?!?! I thought they stopped doing that in the early 70's. Why in the world would there be a mono mix in the 80's? Rock music had long since left AM radio.